Three leading US universities have agreed to set up a new American University at the upcoming Tunis Financial Harbour, a $3-billion mixed use project being developed by Bahrain-based Gulf Finance House (GFH) in Tunisia.

The $103-million initiative is being launch by US-based Clayton State University, Savannah State University and Michigan State University in partnership with University Montplaisir, a local Tunisian university.

Launched in 2008, the GFH project is being built across 523 hectares and aims to be the first world class offshore financial centre in North Africa. This vision is supported by its strategic location just 25km north of Tunis and only 15km from Carthage International Airport.

Unveiling the future plans, Lotfi Ezzar, the chief executive of Tunis Bay Project Company, said the work on the university community, which will be spread across more than five hectares, is scheduled to start in 2017 and will be completed in 2020.

The project will be financed by the US universities involved as well as a group of local banks and high net worth investors.

The university, to be the first-of-its-kind collaboration in North Africa, will contain a variety of high level facilities and colleges including those focused on economics, engineering, medicine and pharmaceuticals, stated Ezzar at a press conference held in Tunis in the presence of officials from Tunis Bay Project Company and the partnering universities.

The project announcement is in line with the objectives and developmental plans of TFH, the commercial gateway to North Africa, and comes to prove the strategic positioning of the project not only in Tunisia but in the North African region overall, he added.

According to Ezzar, this investment by three leading American universities underscores the important strategic position of TFH and the value that this project is adding to the local and surrounding economies.

The establishment of this top tier university in Tunis will support efforts to further diversify the economy, build on the country’s strong foundations and create jobs and opportunities for Tunisians and others across the region.

He said the TFH's location and its infrastructure will offer easy access for skills, knowledge and investment capital to flow from within the region and from international markets into Tunisia and Africa.

In addition to a business hub, TFH has been master planned to serve as a modern urban environment where residents and their families can live and work.

Once fully developed, TFH will feature residential and retail spaces, an 18-hole championship golf course, a beach community, souk, education facilities, hotels, financial centre, marina and shopping malls which all together will create more than 16,000 jobs and accommodate 110,000 residents.-TradeArabia News Service